Page 14 of Your Secret to Keep

“Yes. Mystery girl is the new hire.” The words are barely out of my mouth before Jalen’s hand covers his mouth as his brows scrunch and eyes go wide. “Her first day was yesterday,” I continue. “Apparently, whoever they hired first didn’t work out and they moved on quickly. I didn’t even meet the other hire.”

“Wait, so Lia’s working on the whole ‘Brooks return to the game project?’”

I shrug my shoulders. “Apparently? Guess I’ll learn more after practice.”

“You lucky bastard,” Jalen jokes. “Didn’t you say she was incredible? I’m not getting why you look like someone stole your hard-earned bag of Halloween candy…”

“I asked her out and she saidmaybe. The job makes this complicated. We’re coworkers.”

He nods in understanding and luckily starts walking so we can get to the court. “I’ve never thought of it that way, but I guess it’s true. I mean, is it against the rules or what’s the deal?”

“I don’t know. Not worth knowing if she doesn’t say yes.” I start doing circles with my arms, stretching out my shoulders.

It’s not like I’d ever try and go out with an executive. Not to sound like a toddler, but I met Lia before she accepted this job. Shouldn’t there be an asterisk for this sort of thing?

Jalen stops, shifting his weight to one leg. “Brooks. Don’t be a dumb ass. Get all the information andbe readyif she says yes.” He puts a finger in my chest. “All I know is y’all will be spending a lot of time together. Could be a blessing or a curse…” He laughs when we step foot on the court.

It finally feels how it used to: my happy place. The place where I can sort through everything and figure shit out.

Fuck, do I need it.

“Brooks, you ready for me?” the trainer calls from across the court, a foam roller in one hand and a roll of tape in the other.

“Don’t you come a step closer with that foam roller,” Jalen yells, shooting a ball from half court which hits the rim and the sound of bouncing echoes. “It took me days to be able to walk right after whatever torture you inflicted.”

I laugh at Jalen being dramatic and the feeling of being home hits me. This court. These people. It’s light and comforting all at once.

It’s the thing I’ve missed most.

Is Lia kidding? Her lips, full and shiny, are one hell of a distraction as I meet with her and Megan. She’s wearing a black dress with a collared white button-up shirt underneath it. Where you might expect to see high heels, she’s wearing black combat boots. Might be an odd combination but it fucking works.

Now, do I know anything about fashion? No. Does that stop me from cataloging this outfit as one of the hottest I’ve ever seen a woman wear? Not a chance.

Megan has a printed calendar, with a matching version in our email, and is walking us through dates. Everything is color coordinated; my name is in green and Lia’s in red, to show when and where we’ll be working together.

The calendar looks like Christmas came early. This meeting has made it clear how much the two of us will be working together. I flick my eyes and try to catch Lia’s from across the table while Megan flips to another page, another month. Her eyes are like emeralds and when they land on mine, she scrunches her nose and gives the smallest head shake that only I know means “quit it.”

“Brooks, your job is to give as much access as possible to Lia. Open up. No recluse behavior.” She points a finger at me before chuckling and shaking my shoulder.

She’s talking about my puzzle phase. When I got out of surgery, all I wanted to do were puzzles. I wasn’t cleared for any physical activity, so I soaked up every single minute of finding corner pieces and squinting over a puzzle table. They gave me purpose; something to do, complete.

I became alittleobsessed. Maybe I still am. I think about the table I had custom ordered for my library back home with a current puzzle waiting for me.

“Open up. You got it,” I say without looking from the calendar.

“Lia, you’ll be responsible for getting footage for content. Both planned and candid. Once we get going, you’ll see what works and what people like to see.”

She tucks a piece of straight blonde hair behind her ear and asks, “What’s my expectation for travel or away games?”

“Honestly, we’ll take as much of you as we can get. All expenses will be covered. If you can let me know which games are a yes, no, and maybe, I’ll start getting those pieces going as far as passes, hotel rooms, all of it.”

I swear, there are pink hearts flashing in Lia’s eyes. I know what she’s thinking: you’re going topayfor me to go to basketball games?

“For this project, I’m thinking four to five months,” Megan continues. “At least to the anniversary of the injury. Ironically, there’s an away game on the same date.”

The devil works hard but the PR team for any professional sports league works harder. All kidding aside, I like our commissioner. He was courtside when I got hurt and made time to check on me, swallowing past his own emotion when we knew what it was, just needing the formal tests to confirm.

Lia coughs. “Months or weeks? Not sure if I heard you…” Her voice trails off.

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